


Pokefiction #6.1: Lavender Town

by BennyTesla14



Series: Pokefiction: Series One [6]
Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon - All Media Types
Genre: Blood, Crying, Gen, Ghosts, Horror, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Lavender Town, Lavender Town Theory, Lung Cancer, Mild Language, Violence, Zombie
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-22
Updated: 2015-03-22
Packaged: 2018-03-18 08:40:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,411
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3563300
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BennyTesla14/pseuds/BennyTesla14
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Amy just wants her back...</p>
            </blockquote>





	Pokefiction #6.1: Lavender Town

**Author's Note:**

> If you're wondering, yes: this story is based off the whole Buried Alive/Pokémon Green/Pokemon Tower theory and all that jazz. Sounds fun, right?  
> Anywhoots, I enjoy this story a lot because we see a darker side to Pokefiction, and now that Rai has become a main character, we get to see more of her and Amy's relationship with each other.

The gang so far has been having a great start to their adventure in Kanto so far, already having won two gym badges. However, as they were on their way back to their home town of Cerulean City for the next gym, Amy convinced her friends to take a slight detour through Rock Tunnel. Now, the gang was taking a quick pit stop at a small cemetery just south of Rock Tunnel and north of the next town.

Chris sighed and leaned forward, propping himself up on the waist-high black iron fence before him with his previously folded arms, shifting his feet impatiently on the dirt beneath his shoes on the dry ground. He squinted, trying to gaze past the glaring sun, and looked to the cemetery. Sure enough, Amy, Rai, and Josh were still kneeling down before a small headstone in silence.

From behind him, Chris heard Cal's impatient groan. "Gaahhhd, we've been standing here for twenty minutes! Can you please tell them to get back over here?" he complained.

"Shush," Chris said, not even bothering to look behind him.

"Seriously though, who could they be mourning over for so long that's _that_ important?" Cal continued.

"Cal." Chris said, turning on his heel. "Be quiet. Obviously it's someone important. Just let them take their time."

Cal hopelessly, with nothing left to do, folded his arms with a slightly exaggerated eye roll. Chris shook his head and turned to look back at the others. In the distance he saw Amy wrap her arm around Rai, who sat to her left, and her other around Josh to her right. Chris cringed as he began thinking to himself. Oh yay, they all look sad, he thought, I hate it when everybody is sad...

He then made a quick decision and turned to Cal. "Hey. Amy and the others look pretty sad over there...you don't wanna go talk to them...do you?" he asked tentatively. Cal remained silent as he answered the question with just a look of apathy. Chris rolled his eyes with a sigh; he saw that reply coming from a mile away. "Yeah, you're right. It was stupid of me to ask you to deal with emotions 'cuz you suck at them. I'll just go talk to them," he said dismissively.

Chris spotted the small gate in the long black fence and walked over, shoving it open slowly, as if the mere action would disturb the cemetery. After a short time of very slow steps, Chris found himself behind his three friends. "Hey, Amy. What are you...oh..."

His sentence drifted off as he read the name on the tombstone: Sophie Margaret Smith.

***************

**Nine Years Ago...**

"Ok students, please take your seats," Amy said to the rest of the room. Josh, being the only other person in the room, obediently toddled over to a tiny, bright red chair in front of Amy. Behind her on the wall was a long green chalkboard. Playing School was one of the siblings' favorite games to play with each other in their playroom.

As Josh took his seat, little Amy nodded and turned to the board. In her tiny fists she clutched a long brown pointing stick that was almost comically taller than her own height, making it clumsy for her to handle. With a slight awkwardness, she tapped the stick against the chalkboard, drawing Josh's attention to a series of scribbled numbers written in chalk.

"Tonight, we're learning about counting two-di...dig...um, two number-numbers," Amy instructed after abandoning hope on pronouncing the word "digit." "If you look up here," she continued, "I've wrote a bunch of numbers. Can anyone tell me what _this_ is?" she asked as she tapped the stick near the number 15.

Josh quickly shot his hand in the air, waving it eagerly from side to side. Amy pursed her lips as she looked around the room slowly at the phantom students, until her gaze rested upon Josh. "Yes, Josh. What number do you think this is?" she asked.

"One and five," he replied quickly.

Amy laughed to herself lightly. "Good guess, but no. It's fifteen!" she explained. "You can put together a bunch of different numbers to get to fifteen! Like eight and seven, nine and six..."

She was cut short as Josh raised his hand once more and spoke over her. "But that can't be right. The numbers are zero, one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, and ten. I know that because we counted them all yesterday in school."

"What's your point?" Amy asked.

"Well, that's just a one and a five. Numbers can only have one number," he continued.

Amy laughed once more. "Silly Josh. How many apples would you have if you were holding ten, and Mommy gave you one more?" she questioned.

"None. I don't like apples," Josh answered with a shrug.

Exasperated, Amy released a sigh and looked over to her right towards Pikachu, who sat on a chair by the wall underneath a single piece of paper that read "Class Pet" while hanging loosely from a piece of tape. "Back me up on this one, Pikachu," Amy called over to her.

Just then, a knock came at the door near Pikachu's chair. "Not now!" Amy yelled to the door. "I don't like in'ruptions to my class!"

The door opened anyways, and in stepped a tall woman with blonde hair, blue eyes, and had practically the same face as Amy. "Mind if I make an announcement?" Sophie asked.

"Sure Mommy, just make it quick. I'm teaching Josh about two number-numbers," Amy elaborated. She sighed fondly. "I remember when I was a little four year old and just starting pre-school. Oh how little I knew. And now I'm a teacher!"

Sophie laughed. It amused her greatly to see her children getting along so well. "That's great, sweetie, but it's already your bed-time," she told them, then recieving a chorus of sighs from her kids and Pikachu as well.

"But a teacher can't abandon her class!" Amy protested.

"Sorry, but the Principal says it's bed-time. Class is dismissed," Sophie said as she pointed to herself with a sure-pointed thumb. Amy and Josh both sighed and walked out the door unhappily. Just as they passed the threshold, two large, muscular arms scooped up the children, hoisting them into the air.

"Come on, little twerps," Roger said playfully, "let's get your PJs on and Mommy will sing you a song!"

His children laughed happily as Roger bounded up the nearby stairs, with Pikachu trotting on her tiny legs behind them quickly. Sophie smiled to herself and leaned on the door to the playroom, watching her husband and kids go round the bend of the stairs and disappear to the upper floor. Sophie then too began to climb the stairs, but after a few steps, her progress was slowed down. A mild rumble of coughs escaped the confinement of her lungs and invaded the air. One after the other they came, eventually slowing her movement to a halt. Sophie placed a hand on the wall, keeping her knees from buckling beneath her. Soon, however, the coughs dissipated. Sophie cleared her throat and walked up the remaining steps.

Up on the tiny second floor, she walked to the furthest room down on the right and entered Amy and Josh's room. The room was slightly smaller than other rooms, had painted blue walls, and one large window on the far side with the blinds drawn over it. On the wall opposite the window was a bunk bed, with Amy and Josh snuggled in on the top and bottom, respectively. Sophie walked over to Roger and placed a hand on his shoulder as he tucked in Josh's blankets. "So I heard someone signed me up to do some singing?" she asked.

"Ooh yes please!" Amy called from the top.

She laughed and sat on the edge of Josh's bed as Roger rose to his feet. "All right, you two. But just once, ok? No encores," she said jokingly and cleared her throat once more.

"You are my sunshine.

My only sunshine.

You make me happy,

When skies are gray.

You'll never know, dear,

How much I love you.

Please don't take

My Sunshine

Away."

As her mother finished the song, Amy could feel her eyes sag and eventually fall, causing her to drift off to sleep. However, after a few hours, while their bedroom was dark (but with the dull illumination of a night light, of course) and both children were sound asleep, the bedroom door slowly creaked open. A woman with short blonde hair and green eyes entered the room and tip-toed her way over and sat on the edge of Josh's bed.

"Aunt Lyndie?" a voice from above the woman called. Lyndie looked up to see Amy looking down at her over the edge of her bed while rubbing her eyes with her fist.

"Hey there, Amy," she greeted in a whisper. "Why don't you come down here for a minute with your brother? I need to tell you something."

Amy and Pikachu groggily scooted across the bed and climbed down the wooden ladder, then taking a seat on the carpet by Josh's bed. By this time, Josh was already awake and waiting, watching intently. Lyndie anxiously looked from Amy and Josh before sighing and closing her eyes. After a moment, she opened them back up to reveal tears welling in her eyes. "So kids...I have a little bit of sad news to share. Your dad had to take Mommy to the hospital because she had a very bad cough, and the doctors needed to give her some medicine. And...she wanted me to watch you," she explained to the kids, struggling to keep in her tears, "and that...she loves you...and everything will be all right in the morning."

***************

**BACK IN THE PRESENT...**

  
Amy sniffed quickly as the three of them stood up in unison. Amy remembered that night like it was yesterday; Mom had never talked about her cancer much, but Amy always knew why Mommy coughed so much. However, she only regretted one thing...she never got to say good bye.

The three turned around and Amy slightly jumped, startled by Chris's presence. "Oh hey, Chris. I didn't see you standing there...," she said quickly as she rubbed under her eye.

"Yeah, sorry 'bout that," Chris muttered. Amy looked down to Josh on her left. "How about you and Rai go back over and wait by Cal. Chris and I will be there in a sec," she instructed. Josh shrugged and crossed in front of her with Rai following him closely. Amy watched them walk away. After they were a considerable distance away, she turned back to Chris.

"Sorry about the detour," Amy said quietly. "It's just that...we hadn't visited Mom in a while is all."

"Nah, that's all right," he replied, shoving his hands into his pockets. 

"Hey, are you two done chatting, ladies!?" Cal's voice yelled over to them. "I'd prefer to leave sometime today!"

Amy snapped her head towards him with a nasty glare and an insult ready in her open mouth, but shook her head and closed it. "Whatever. I don't have the energy to deal with him today," she said, exasperated. The two friends turned back towards the others. As they began slowly walking, Amy wedged her hand and forearm between Chris's arm and torso, wrapping her arm around it fondly. "Do you remember my mom?" she asked.

Chris squinted as he recalled the many fond memories of Mrs. Smith that whizzed through his mind. "Yeah, I do. I will probably always remember the first day she met Cal. We were...five, was it?...and Cal came over to my house for a sleep over. Then you and Pikachu came over to play in my backyard. Then later, when your mom came over to get you for dinner, Cal called her a fat witch for taking you home." Chris paused to let the laughter from he and Amy to manifest.

"Then your mom made Cal go over to my house and apologize," Amy finished for him. "I always remember that same summer, you, me, Josh, and Cal were outside my house eating ice cream cones. Then some really tall girl with black hair was chasing a flying green Pokémon down the street and bumped into me, making me drop my ice cream. Then my mom, after seeing the whole thing happen from just inside the house came outside and the girl had to give my mom money for a new ice cream cone from the truck thingy."

The two laughed once more as they reached the black gate. "So where are we headed now? You said you had one more place to go?" Chris asked as they shoved past the gate.

"Yeah. We need to go to Pokémon Tower in Lavender Town. It's just south of here," Amy answered.

Cal, after doing a double take towards her, made a very odd sound; something like a scoff mixed with an objectionable yelp. "What!? Are you crazy!? Lavender Town's Pokémon Tower is the most haunted site in all of the Kanto region! No way in hell am I going there," he said, very displeased.

"Calm down, Cal," Chris said quickly. He knew very well Amy was irritable when sad, so he did not want Cal to make it worse. "Amy, why do we need to go to the hella-creepy Pokémon Tower?"

Amy shifted her gaze to the ground uneasily. "Well...I can't really tell you guys yet...but I swear on my life it's important! Can we please go, Chris?" she with a lightly pleading gaze, tightening her grip on his arm ever so slightly.

"...yeah, fine, we can go," he answered, trying to hide his blush as he saw Amy smile.

**************

"We are so gonna get murdered here," Chris muttered to himself. He and his friends stood at the entrance to Lavender Town. There were a small number of tiny buildings that were hard to see over a slightly dense fog that lay lazily over practically the entire town. Chris slowly began to lead the way, walking into the town. An eerie silence hung over the town; not a single sound to indicate life could be heard.

"I swear to God, Amy, if we get separated and picked off one by one, I hope they get you first," Cal hissed over to her.

Amy, who walked closely behind Chris and walked holding Rai's paw, rolled her eyes. "Ok, I know the fog is creepy. Just stay together. And no one is going to get murdered!" she replied.

"It seems like the only thing missing from this town is a creepy music to play whenever you're here," Josh whispered.

As Chris continued to lead his friends, he felt a pressure of a hand rest on his shoulder. How sweet, he thought to himself. Amy wants me to guide her!

He slowly came to a halt as the group reached the looming tower. Even though it only had four floors above its ground floor, it looked as though it went up forever, reaching into the sky. Chris gulped nervously. "Well...here we are, guys," he said nervously over his shoulder. Just as he spotted the door to the tower and walked towards it, he felt a small tug on his right arm. As he looked down to his side, he saw a small, pale-skinned, dark haired girl in a yellow dress looking up at him nervously.

"Hey there, um...sir...I...er, wondered if I could ask you a question," she said, barely above a harsh whisper. Chris nodded and leaned down close to her. The girl glanced anxiously to her sides before whispering into his ear, "Do you believe in ghosts?"

Chris laughed lightly, standing back up. "No, little girl, I don't," he said, trying to be as polite as possible.

The little girl sighed tremendously. "Ok, good. So that white hand on your shoulder...I'm just imagining it," she mumbled as she turned and walked off.

Suddenly, the pressure on Chris's shoulder lifted away.

***************

 The gang stood on the ground floor of the tower. An eerie silence lay sublime throughout the whole room. The walls were faded and peeling its wallpaper at places, and the pale blue tiles on the floor chipping at awkward corners. Only a few other people were in the lobby; one older man with an older woman, presumably husband and wife, hugging each other while the woman held an aged picture of a Marowak. On another end, there was a younger woman who held the hand of her small son as they walked down the stairs on the right-hand side of the room. 

"Well...time's a wastin'," Amy said, feeling uncomfortable for breaking the silence. She walked in front as she led the others to the staircase. As they took a few steps up, Chris, who was near the back with Josh, leaned down to him.

"Hey Josh," he whispered. "I don't wanna sound distrusting or anything, but...what's Amy planning here?"

Josh shrugged. "I don't know, really. But I trust Amy," he said with an innocent smile.

Finally, Amy and Rai took the first steps onto the first floor, gasping as they did so. The entire floor was covered with gravestones, all lined up in an orderly fashion. There was a distinguished path made of the absence of gravestones that led to the other end of the room, which had a long staircase on the wall. The gang walked through the room slowly; they all felt a strange yet somber feeling settle into their stomachs. Even though she tried not to, Amy found herself glancing at all the gravestones she passed, rubbing Rai's paw fondly at each one she saw.

Cal, however, was the only one not feeling particularly saddened by all of this as he released a loud groan. "Come on, Amy! Can we just leave already?" he complained loudly.

The rest of the group, which was all in front of him, turned their heads towards him indignantly. "Seriously, Cal?" Chris asked, bewildered. "Have a little respect!"

"Pfft, what's gonna happen!?" Cal countered. "It's not like I'm gonna  _wake anyone up!!_ "

Cal laughed to himself as he slowly looked around the room. "I mean, seriously! Are the stiffs gonna send zombie Pokemon to punish me for being ru-"

"You're being _VERY_ rude...CAL," a raspy voice from behind him said in a course whisper.

Cal snapped around and saw a shorter, elderly woman wearing a pink kimono in front of him. Her long black hair had iron-gray streaks through them, and her eyes, surrounded by wrinkles, seemed to pierce into Cal's eyes. "What?...Y-y-you weren't here a second ago..." Cal stammered as his heart began to pick up speed.

"You...are disrespecting the resting souls of these Pokemon...I will give you one chance to apologize," she explained. Her voice quivered ever so slightly with bubbling rage.

"H-h-how did you know my name?..." Cal asked quietly, not even hearing the old woman's previous instructions.

"I said... _APOLOGIZE_ ," she hissed. Suddenly, in a flash of movement, the woman's long and bone-y arm shot up, and her skeleton-like fingers gripped Cal by the neck. Cal immediately began to claw at her hands as they tightened, lifting him two inches off the ground.

"HEY! Let him GO!" Chris shouted as he ran at the woman. After one bound, the woman raised her other hand and it glowed purple, and Chris collided with a giant, transparent pink orb that formed a barrier between them. Cal squeezed his grip on the woman's hand, his heart racing with terror. He looked into the woman's eyes; they were utterly pitch black. They pierced like knives into Cal's gaze, filling him with the indescribable feeling of dread...unadulterated horror.

Suddenly, the whole room went dark. For three seconds, all that Chris, Amy, Josh, and Rai could hear was Cal's gurgled and strained cries for help.

Then, silence.

The light magically reappeared in the room. Amy, who had been standing by the wall with Josh and Rai, ran over to Chris and helped him up. A pulsating pain throbbed in Chris's head. As he wobbled onto his feet, he quickly scanned the room. Cal and the old woman were no where to be seen.

"Cal...? Where did he...," Chris mumbled. He then spun around and faced Amy angrily. "AMY! What the HELL are we doing here? What the hell was all of that!?"

Tears welled in Amy's eyes as she shook her head, completely stumped on how to reply. "I-I-I don't know!" she managed to say. "This...I didn't know any of th-th-this was gonna happen!!"

"Amy, listen to me." Chris said, his voice low but forceful. "We are going to find Cal, and then get. The. Hell. Out. Of. Here. I don't care what it is you need to do; this place is obviously too dangerous to stay here!"

Amy nodded, quickly wiping tears off her cheek. "Yeah...yeah, you're right."

"Guys! Cal might be on the next floor! We have to go see!" Josh exclaimed, pointing up the staircase.

Amy gave a small nod as Chris confidently ran ahead of them, leading the way quickly up to the next floor. As his feet clambered to the top of the steps, he gazed around the newly discovered floor. It looked just like the one before; gravestones, same floor, same everything. "CAL!" Chris called out. "...CAL!" He glanced around the room, and his only reply was silence. He then turned towards Amy, Rai, and Josh. "Guys, I'm gonna look around this floor. You three just stay there by the wall and don't get separated. I'll find Cal; trust me," he instructed, then turning his back to them.

Josh sighed and leaned against the wall, and Rai sat on the floor, holding her head lazily on her paw. Amy, however, slowly began to feel something come over her. Something subtle, but strange. It felt soothing...hypnotic, almost. Before she knew what she was doing, her feet began to take sloppy steps away from the wall. Her eyes were half open as she looked down at a gravestone in front of her. She fell to her knees with a slight thud, and began to read the name on the stone: Josh Smith.

"Oh my...oh my God," Amy mumbled. Her vision was as blurry as waking up in the middle of the night; the only things in focus were the stone and Josh's name. "Oh my GOD!!"

Chris snapped around. "Amy!? What's wrong?" he asked anxiously.

The words had no effect on Amy whatsoever, almost like the sound waves were absorbed by cotton around her ears. Tears began to flow down her face as she sobbed loudly. "JOSH! NO! How could I let his happen!? Why!?" she wailed.

Chris hurriedly knelt beside her and looked at the stone. The stone was completely blank.

"Amy, snap out of it!! You're just imagining things!" Chris explained quickly. "Josh is right over there by the wall! SNAP OUT OF IT!!"

Chris quickly stood and looked behind him. "See? He's right over...," he began, but stopped as he saw only Rai sitting against the wall, sound asleep. "Why is Rai asleep?" Chris mumbled. "And where is...oh God..."

Chris's gaze had wandered up the wall and saw something he wish he hadn't. Josh, completely unconscious, was being held by two white hands (one over his mouth, the other over his torso) with his back flat against the ceiling. Chris stumbled back and his feet nudged Amy's back roughly, causing her to fall onto her side.

Amy's senses slowly worked their way back into her head. "What?...what's going on?" she mumbled, turning around and seeing Josh as well. "JOSH!" she managed to shout just before Josh's body, like a rock dropping into a puddle, was hoisted by the hands straight through the ceiling, causing the entire ceiling to ripple briefly like a pond, before disappearing.

"Josh, no!!" Amy cried as she bolted from her place towards the staircase. She didn't even bother to check and see if the other two had followed when she began running up the stairs to the next floor.

"Amy, wait!" Chris yelled to her as he followed. The loud thuds of their feet on the cold floor caused Rai to wake with a start. She as well quickly got to her feet and ran after them, but was quickly tripped and fell; something was grabbing her tail. She looked behind her to see the same zombified hand clutching her tail tightly.

Amy reached the top of the floor and was greeted by a thick darkness that filled the whole room; she couldn't even see her hand as she held it in front of her own face. Chris followed her quickly, and saw no blackness; the room was perfectly lit. He looked over to Amy, who closed her eyes tightly as she felt the air in front of her vaguely with outstretched arms. "Chris? Do you see a light switch?" she whispered loudly, as if someone were lurking in the darkness.

Chris gave her a confused glance and looked towards the next staircase. "Amy! That must be to the top floor! You wait here, and I'm gonna get to the bottom of this, ok?" he exclaimed as he slowly made his way up the stairs.

Amy opened her eyes, once again seeing the inky blackness in the room. "Chris!? Where are you? I can't see a thing!" she yelled helplessly. Amy took a tentative step forward, knowing that if she tripped she would loose all her vestibular sense. After a few more steps, her arms softly touched a wall and her hands immediately felt around the wall for a switch of any kind. As her hands slowly went down the wall, her fingers made contact with a  cold and stiff piece of metal. She gripped her fist around it quickly. She tried moving it the left; it didn't even budge. Then to the right; not a millimeter of movement. Then she tried moving it upwards, to no avail. Then down; it still remained motionless. Then she tried slowly pulling it outwards, and the circular piece of metal slowly moved out about an inch before coming to a stop. Amy shrugged and slowly pushed the piece of metal away from her, and she could feel it move into something; something soft and squishy that made a liquid-like tearing sound as she moved her hand forward. Amy blinked rapidly and the light returned to her eyes. She was slightly startled to see Chris standing right in front of her, mere inches away. "Sorry, didn't see you there, Chris!" she said with a laugh. Chris, however, was silent, and his gaze empty.

Confused, Amy looked down at the piece of metal that her fist was still clutching.

She saw the dagger plunged into Chris's body and the smear of blood on his shirt and her hands.

Amy released a blood-curdling shriek as she backed away. She blinked once, and Chris was gone. Amy quickly looked around the room. Everything was quiet...

Too quiet. The terror that was bubbling in her body somehow just vanished as she looked around the floor; there wasn't a single gravestone on the floor. The only other thing was the staircase at the other end of the room.

In a flash, Amy felt a large hand grab a great amount of her thick hair and yank her back violently, right off her feet and to the floor. Something with a tremendous force dragged Amy by her hair across the empty floor and towards the next staircase. Amy felt each step collide with the back of her head as she was dragged swiftly up the stairs, until finally the force released her and dropped her head with a thud on the floor.

And everything went dark.

***************

After a few minutes of deprived consciousness, Amy groaned and leaned up. Before her was one long, narrow, and empty room, that had only two gravestones at the very end. Amy noticed one other important thing about the room: she saw Chris, Rai, Josh, and Cal all standing next to one wall, all standing with their hands at their sides. Their entire bodies were frozen in time, and all were a pale gray color.

Suddenly, a raspy voice echoed through the room. "You're here...I'm lonely...so very lonely...won't you join me?"

Amy scrambled to her feet. Finally, she thought. Here's what I've come here for....

"Come on out, GRIMM! Come and get me!!" Amy yelled, her voice echoing and bouncing through the room.

Suddenly, from the end of the room in front of the two gravestones, the ground before it began to tremble, crack, and unearth, as if something were rising from it. A long, pale, white arm with decaying skin shot out from the ground, grabbing at the floor. The arm plunged its fingers into the tiles before it and pulled out the rest of the body. It was a corpse. All that could be seen was the head down to the torso, and what was seen was very disturbing. The head had no hair, the eye sockets were empty except for a glowing red orb in each of them. It's pale white skin was peeling if not completely gone at places, revealing yellowish bones.

"Well well...you're here...fresh meat," the buried alive said in a horse whisper.

Amy, who was trembling with fear, tried her best to appear confident. "Y-you're the Buried Alive, aren't you?...Grimm, they call you...," she said nervously.

"Have you come to join my collection?" he replied, gesturing with his arm over to Amy's frozen friends.

Seeing Grimm do this filled Amy with a sudden fire of anger. "Cut the crap, Grimm! You know why I'm here," Amy snapped. "I'm here to battle you to get my friends back! Then we're getting out of this hell hole and never coming back!"

A scratchy chuckle emanated from the zombie. "Amelia...that's not the _real_ reason you're here; we both know that," Grimm said.

The fact that he knew her name didn't phase Amy in the slightest. "Fine...I'll battle you. If you win, you keep me and my friends as statues forever. But if I win, I get my friends back...," Amy gulped. "...and my mother."

Grimm smiled devilishly and snapped his bony fingers, and Rai was suddenly freed from state of grayness, and she immediately ran over to Amy. "Amy!" she said with relief. "What's going on!?"

"Rai, I need you to battle," Amy explained quickly, giving Rai a comforting hug. "If you win this one battle...we get to get back Mom."

"Mom? WHAT!?" Rai repeated, utterly baffled. "But Amy...Mom's dead..."

Amy clenched her eyes shut and shook her head vigorously. "I know, Rai! Just...this is why this battle is incredibly important! Please do this for me...and Josh...," she pleaded.

Rai thought deeply for a moment and then nodded. She turned and faced Grimm without the slightest hint of fear.

Just then, the White Hand appeared. Only this hand was huge, at least the size of Amy's torso. Suddenly, the White Hand began to ripple like a reflection in water, and in mere seconds, it became an exact copy of Rai.

"Rai! Use Thunderbolt!" Amy commanded. Rai released the large bolt of lightning and it struck the clone Rai, who was barely affected. The clone suddenly used Quick Attack, hitting Rai at rapid speeds, blow after blow, shoving Rai to the ground. After its barrage, the clone leapt back to safety, leaving Rai to slowly get to her feet. Just as Rai was back up, she was knocked down _again_ as the clone Rai suddenly leapt forwards at Rai, hitting her with its glowing fist of its Mega Punch attack.

"Rai, use Dig!" Amy yelled. Rai quickly burrowed her way into the floor, and after a few seconds of the clone looking around wildly in anticipation, Rai burst through the floor, hitting the clone directly under its chin. The clone Rai fell to the ground, unconscious, and faded into nothingness.

Grimm released a deafening wail of anger. "NOOOOOOOO!!......fine, you pitiful mortal, you can have your friends back...and your mother," he said in frustration. As Rai ran back to Amy, the rest of the gang suddenly faded back into color, each falling to his knees. Amy ran over to her newly revived friends.

"Amy...," Chris said, breathless. "What happened?" Amy paid no attention to him and ran directly to Josh.

"Josh!!" she began excitedly. "I battled Grimm and made a bet and won!"

"What?" Josh said, still fuzzy in the head.

"And we get Mom back now," Amy concluded. Josh's face widened and froze as his mouth mouthed the word "mom," as if he struggled to find its meaning. Suddenly, a huge blast of a blinding white light appeared in the center of the room. Amy grabbed her brother's arm and raced towards the light.

Very subtly, fading in, a figure began to appear. First, there was a body wearing a white plain dress. Then the arms appeared, followed by a head topped off with long blonde hair. Then the face, eyes, ears, nose, and mouth appeared.

Sophie.

Sophie stood amidst the white light that surrounded her; her legs below the knees were invisible. She slowly looked around the room, confused, until her gaze rested on the people in front of her. Amy and Josh. The two stood there, silently gazing at their mother. Neither of them knew what to do or say; they had no idea what this was like, having someone who died suddenly appear before their very eyes.

"Amy?...Josh?" Sophie's light voice echoed. Amy slowly stepped towards her mother.

"Mom?" she whispered. Amy hesitantly reached out with her hand, touching her mother's arm. It was tangible, but felt airy and cold, as if she were touching a dense mist. "Mom," she repeated again, this time with happiness. Amy threw herself into a hug with her mother. A million emotions ran through her mind. Amy blinked back tears as she smiled.

"Amy...," Sophie repeated, with growing happiness, "oh, my sweet Amy...it's so good to see you!" Sophie stretched her arms out and held her daughter in front of her, examining her intently. "Oh, my little girl...growing up...you've become so beautiful, Amy."

Amy could barely think of anything to do but smile as big as she could. However, Sophie suddenly looked confused. "Amy...What am I doing here? Where am I? How did I get here?" she asked.

Amy's heart skipped a beat. "Well, Mom...I made a bet with Grimm. He's the mythical buried alive zombie that lives in this tower. I beat him in a battle, so he let me bring you back to life! Now you can be with me, Josh, and Dad again!"

Sophie gave a small smile that had a thin layer of sadness behind it. "Oh sweetie...why would you do that?" she asked.

"Because...we miss you so much, and we love you...," Amy stated a matter-of-factly. "And...," her tears and sobs made her next words choke in her throat, "you never...got to say goodbye!" Then the tears began to roll down Amy's face.

Sophie held Amy's face gently in her hands, wiping away the tears with great care. "Thank you, Amy...but...but I'm dead," Sophie began, "and I'm not supposed to be in the land of the living anymore. My place now is where we go after we die, and no one can change that. You know that. It's not our power to have.

Amy shook her head. "But Mom! Don't you love us!? You have your chance of being with your family again and you're not going to take it?" she asked critically.

Sophie frowned sadly. "Amelia, don't say things like that. You know I love you, Josh, and your Dad with all my heart! But it's not our place! Humans don't have the right to decide who lives and who dies, and you know in your heart that that's true," she explained sympathetically.

Amy hung her head sadly. "But I just miss you so much! I would give anything in the world to have you back!" she confessed as sobs made her sentence bounce.

Sophie pulled Amy in close, hugging her tightly once more. "Oh, Amy...I know I can't be with you, and that's hard for me too. But we both know that...we can't be reunited just yet. But just wait...our time will come someday."

"Mom...?" Josh's voice finally managed to speak up from behind them as he stepped forward.

Amy took a small step to the side, letting Sophie see Josh. "Josh...my young man. You look so handsome..."

"Does this mean...you're not coming back?" he asked. Sophie nodded sadly and invited Josh into her arms, hugging both her precious children tightly.

"Mom..," Josh began once more. "Can you sing our song one more time? Before you...before you go?"

Sophie nodded.

"You are my sunshine...,"

As she began to sing, memories flashed into Amy's head.

She remembered when her mom gave her Pikachu.

"...my only sunshine...,"

The day Josh was brought home from the hospital.

"...you make me happy...,"

Sophie reading Amy and Josh their favorite bedtime story.

"...when skies are gray...,"

Amy hiding in her room as Sophie and Roger argued.

"...you'll never know, dear...,"

Amy and Josh building sandcastles at the beach with their parents.

"...how much I love you...,"

Sophie dropping Amy off at her first day of school.

"...please don't take, my sunshine...away."

The last night they saw their mother.

Sophie held her children once more in front of her, wiping away both their tears with her thumbs. "Now I can actually say goodbye this time...," Sophie said quietly with a small smile.

"I love you, Mom," Amy said through a sob.

"I love you too!" Josh added, sniffling quickly.

Sophie held her kids closely. "I love you both so much...and I will always be with you...but for now,...goodbye."

The light around her body grew, and she was gone.

 

End..........To be continued with Pokefiction #7.1: Pick Your Poison

**Author's Note:**

> HOORAY FOR FEELS!!!
> 
> Sorry this one was so long, but there's just so much to cram into one story when you write about Lavender Town! Am I right? Anyway, I know this story was a little dark, but most of the Pokefiction stories aren't this dark. Otherwise, it's pretty light-hearted most of the time, with a few serious subjects.


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